Our travels in Israel in the Covid period

_Tour to the Gush Etzion settlements with the SA Immigrants  Society 14 Nov2021

On the bus there we got an explanation of the history of the Etzion block which today consists of 4 kibbutzim and and towns with othe settlements combined population of 100 thousand. Today it is a bedroom villiage of Jerusalem. Between 1948 and 1967 this area was occupied by Jordan and from the Jerusalem border you could see it the landmark being a big ancient oak tree.  Today this Oak Tree is the Symbol of the Etzion Winery.

In 1927 Yeminite Jewish immigrants came there, it was given the biblical name Migdal Eder but there but fled in 1929 when the Arab Riots began. This was Jewish National Fund property and in 1932 Holtman from Germany gave money to restart the settlement and so it was name after him Etz(wood) Etzion.

The origenal settlement were Kfar Zion (founded in 1943), Massuot Yitchak (1945), Ein Tzurim (1946) and Revadim(1947);

1948 The block was regarded as the first point to protect Jerusalem. Children and non combatant women were evacuated. A convey of supplies were sent their but never arrived and 10 palmach fighters were killed in it. A further convey got through from Jerusalem but on its was back 35 soldiers were killed. Then it was attacked by the Arab Legion and all 127 fighters were massacred except 4 who managed to escape. This happened the day that Ben Gurion declared Israel's independance.May 13 1948. 

We visited the museum that shows this story and then went to a park for our picnic lunch at a park maintained by volunteers. There was a place you could help yourself to tea, coffee and hot water and your leave a donation for it.Here  we had a lecture by an American  from the Neve Daniel  on how they build that settlement.

We then went to the winary where a restuarant is build over the factory and you can see the equipment below.  We tasted 4 differnet wines and had an explanation on wine making in the area.  Within walking distance 4 stone wine presses were found where people would walk and crush the grapes from pre Moslem times.  Thus winemakeing was once a payable industry.  You need 15centimetes of soil covering the rock base.  Vines  in harsh conditions give better grapes but after 30 years they have to be renewed as they begin to yield less.  Some vines in France are 300 years old  and do not have this problem.

Hand picking gives a better wine but to avoid labour costs the vines are designed for machine picking.

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Visit to Cramim 2021  Celebrated 42nd wedding our  anniversary 

Tuesday March 23rd 2021 was election day and we voted early and drove to the Cramim  Hotel (vineyards) which is on Kibbutz Kiryat Anavim(town of grapes) in the Jerusalem corridor. This hotel is a spa with swimming pools, gym, jacuzzi etc and we spent 2 nights there to celebrate our 42nd wedding anniversary and to get out of home after the end of the lockdown. You have to show your Green Passport that you have had 2 vaccinations to register. 

 Besides relaxing and 2 very big meals a  day breakfast and dinner ith the most excellent food. I was up at 7 am to go on a 5 km walk. The first day was led by a young sports instructor and I battled to keep up and was out of breath getting to the top of the hill.

 Luckily I took up the challenge again for the 2nd day and this was the type of walk I wanted.  Led by an  80 year old woman who was a member of the kibbutz.  She told us that in 1996 at the town of Abu Ghosh they were burning garbage and they wind set the area on fire and burned down the kibbutz restaurant.  After that they decided to build a hotel resort and got Israhotels to put it up, with the kibbutz as a big shareholder. The kibbutz used to have a plastic pipes factory which closed down and now that building is rented out as a warehouse, it has a roof completely covered with solar cells. We walked past a field that used to have apple , pear orchards when it did not pay was rented out to Barcan wineries who put up the vineyards.  They harvest the grapes and make the wine on the Golan heights.  Upright vines are everywhere even around the hotel parking to give an atmosphere.  These are vines designed for machine harvesting in the fields but around the terraces of the hotel are obviously harvested by hand.

We walked up a gravel road to the top of the hill where you can see Abu Ghosh on the one side and the suspension bridge at the entrance to Jerusalem on the other and the main highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.  One of the group knew the names of every wild flower and they are all in bloom exactly now that it is spring. You see vast areas of wild red poppies, with some orchids and cyclamen under the rocks.Both wild fennel (used for lichorice) and sage are natural her and both have proper Hebrew names.  We came down on a narrow muddy food path, through dense forest with many fallen dead trees which I thought was a fire hazzard.

The guide told us she is the only old member of the kibbutz that has all 3 of her children and 8 grandchildren there, other members their offspring are spread far and wide. We walked past a cemetery built on the site of an army camp and had the graves of 480 Palmach soldiers from the Harel Brigade who died in the battle to open the road to Jerusalem in 1948. Many of these fighters had just arrived off the ships as refugees and some of their names were unknown. A fence had to be put up around this cemetary to keep the wild boars from digging it up. Too many wild boars  have become a problem in Israel.

The following day we left the hotel and drove through Abu Ghost but it is not easy driving up the hills of these narrow roads.  There are 2 monasteries here and in season choral festivals take place in the church halls. Even though this is an Arab town all signs on shops are in Hebrew only.

From there we drove south to Carmit in the Negev to visit our son and family.

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 Visit to the Negev 29/10/20

Visit to Boker Valley farm not much in a year without travel

The Corona lockdown has meant that we have been home this time for 4 whole weeks and Astrid booked to spend 2 nights during the week at Boker Valley Farm on Tues. Wed. 27th 28th October 2020. We arrived there at 3pm taking the directions that they gave us but it would have been easier continuing on road 6 to get there as you have some very dangerous drivers in the south and it is not pleasant being overtaken on a barrier line.

Still on the main Nitsana road you see a small sun shining in the distance and when we got close we realized  that this is the Ashalin solar power station.  On the way home  we drove past this and I found out that it is a white elephant and an ecological danger.

Apparently when it was built in 2014 it got a 20 year contract to provide power to the Electricity Corporation cheaper than the coal power stations but by the time it came online in 2018, cheaper new gas was available from Israels gas fields in the Mediteranean. The  Chinese are now manufacturing cheap solar panels. Ashalim has mirrors pointing to the tower that gives a very bright light that one has to avoid looking at and will cause eye problems. Any bird that flies into the area of the mirrors will  get either singed or burned up. It does store hot salt solution so that the turbine continues up to 4 and a half hours after sunset. This was designed in Israel and all these projects develop engineering skill that go to invent the next idea.

Boker Valley Resort is ideal for times of Corona as there are about 6 cabins each on their own space. Once the sun set it was pretty chilly in the dessert so we could go for long walks.  The cabin does not have TV so we had a rest from the bad news. We played scrabble and watched  a movie on our portable DVD and I finished reading a book. On the hill the wind had completely blown all sand off the rocks so  nothing grows there but lower down the dried out river beds have luxurious growth  and despite the fact that it seldom rains but there is a heavy dew in the morning. There are olive trees and fig trees and a few goats and horses. In season they have a riding school.  Their season is the winter months but because nobody could leave the country this year to go abroaad they open edin August on request.  I would not like to be here in mid summer. Instead of breakfast in the dining room they brought  each cabin a box with breakfast. We brough with 2 main meals and bread cheese, tuns salad  for a light supper.

The only problem was a family downwind with a barbeque and the smoke from them. There was not much to do here but at least we got away from the humid coast and our flat for two nights and relaxed.

Thursday  we visited Tal Tehila and family before returning home late  that night.